


Midnight Grocery Run

by RoseJennison



Series: Fire Emblem: Three Houses- Borrowerverse [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, The Borrowers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Borrowers Fusion, Female My Unit | Byleth, G/T, Gen, Giants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:40:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseJennison/pseuds/RoseJennison
Summary: In which Claude hears a new story, which leads to a new mystery, which leads to the discovery that the residents of Garreg Mach Monastery are more diverse than he was expecting.This is the first in a series of stories set in an alternate universe where some of the FE3H characters are borrowers (aka tiny people) that live in the walls of the monastery.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan
Series: Fire Emblem: Three Houses- Borrowerverse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1615615
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Midnight Grocery Run

The kitchen staff liked Claude. 

Well, at least that's what Claude believed. None of the cooks or clean up crew had ever expressly said that they liked him, but he'd managed to get each of them to smile at least once and a few even laughed at his jokes. He'd yet to do either with the head chef, but he was under the impression that she scolded him less compared to other noble children, which was telling. So he didn't feel at all uncomfortable asking a question when he saw the head chef do something curious. 

All the students at the monastery were assigned various chores on different weeks, and this was his first week to help in the kitchens. So here he was, helping clean up after dinner, when he noticed something peculiar. The head chef was setting aside some of the leftovers, and putting them on a small cloth. She started to tie it up, and Claude assumed she was going to take it home with her, but instead of putting it in her apron pocket she placed it on a high shelf in the kitchen.

“That should be enough.” She said.

“Enough for what?” Claude asked.

“Not 'what' boy, 'who'.” The elderly woman gave him a stern look. “Surely someone with your upbringing has heard about the little servants.”

“Ah, of course. I should have guessed.” Claude replied breezily. “I didn't get quite the same upbringing as some of my fellows, but my mother did tell me some about them.” This was not entirely false. His mother had mentioned something, but it was always in relation to how the story of the 'Goddess's Little Servants' sounded similar to a children's tale told to him by his father. But with the tone she had taken, it wouldn't do to sound completely naive about the subject. 

“I'm certainly glad you were.” Another cook piped up. “Raised different I mean. I could barely get that Gloucester boy to touch the dirty dishes, much less wash them. You may drop half of them, but at least you don't whine the whole time.”

“I aim to please.” Claude said with a cheeky grin. The man huffed, but it sounded more amused than annoyed. 

“You'll please me when you learn to stop dropping the plates.” the cook said.

“In that I shall bow to your experience. Teach me your ways, Master of Dishes.” Claude said, voice deep and grand. He was rewarded with a smile from the cook as he got back to washing. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

After his duties for the day were done, he made his way to the library. He had classwork to do of course, but first he would look for any mention of this 'little servants' story. If it was a common enough belief that the monastery workers didn't bat an eye at someone following it by leaving food out, it was probably something he should know about if he wanted to keep up his pretense of being native to Fodlan.

He came across what he was looking for once he found a book of Church of Seiros stories that didn't focus exclusively on the saints. According to the text he found, 'The Goddess's Little Servants' were beings that the Goddess had bestowed upon places she favored in order to bless them. The little servants were said to help with the upkeep of the buildings they inhabited, especially by repelling pests and vermin. They were said to be especially prevalent in churches, so most places of worship had designated places to leave offerings of thanks to them. Since they were a blessing from the Goddess, signs of them were seen as good fortune, but trying to catch a glimpse of them would anger them. Which could cause them to leave and take their good fortune with them.

Well, after reading that he could definitely see what his mother meant about this tale and his father's being similar. Claude's father had told him stories about small creatures that lived in all the secret or hidden places of the world, be they in the wild or in your own house. In the Almyran version, the ones that lived in houses would help the house's larger occupants by finding lost things and putting them out in the open. Only if they liked you though, if they disliked you they would keep things you lost as their own. 

Claude was thoughtful, as he closed the book. Two peoples, two tales of small beings, which had likely come about as a way to explain away where little things sometimes disappeared to and why you sometimes found them much later. Claude found it pretty amusing, actually, that two peoples who believed themselves to be so different from each other had found such similar ways of explaining away one of life's 'little' mysteries. For a while he figured that's all there was to it, and his curiosity was satisfied. 

At least it was until more strangeness started to crop up. When he went to work in the kitchen's the next day, he noticed that the shelf the chef's offering had been placed on now only held a folded up cloth. Claude figured that one of the previous workers had thrown the old food out, or maybe fed it to the cats. But no matter how early he got to the kitchens, even if he was the first one there in the morning, the food was still gone. Then sometimes the cloth would be gone too, and the chef would just get out a new one like this was a common occurrence as well. 

For Claude, this raised questions. Where was the food going? Surely no animal was making off with it, with the cloth folded so neatly, so it had to be a person taking it. But who would it be? The chef seemed to believe enough in the little servants not to touch it herself, so was it one of the cooks? Did one of the clergy come around and take such offerings in order to keep the story alive? Was there truly something 'other worldly' taking the offerings made after each supper time?

Claude had never been able to resist a good mystery. Even if he had bigger ones to worry about while at the academy, he didn't see the harm in taking a night to try and figure out this one. He remembered perfectly well that the text he'd found had cautioned against trying to see the little servants, but he'd also never been one to follow directions if they got in the way of his investigations. 

So one night, after the kitchen had been closed down and everyone else had gone home for the day, Claude sneaked in. With only the moonlight shining through the windows, there were plenty of shadows for him to hide in, and he was able to find a perch that allowed him to watch both the door and the shelf with the bundle on it. It was quiet for a long while, but he didn't let his focus wander. This wasn't so different than keeping watch at night, and he had experience with that from both before and after he started attending the academy. 

A few hours into his watch, Claude heard a sound that stood out from the nighttime stillness. It wasn't the footsteps he'd been expecting; it sounded more like stone scraping on stone. But it was a light sound too, one he probably wouldn't have heard if he wasn't fairly close to it. Because it wasn't coming from the direction of the dining hall, but from somewhere in the kitchen. Movement caught his eye, and Claude focused exclusively on the shelf. A part of the brick that sat just behind the bundle slid backwards, leaving a small, dark hole in the wall. A second later, something emerged from the darkness. 

It was a person. A tiny person, one that he probably could pick up in a single hand. He couldn't see much of them in the dim lighting, but the proportions definitely spoke to a person, not some kind of animal. So did the way the tiny person knelt down and heaved the bundle of food onto their back before disappearing back into the darkness. The brick slid back into place, making it seem completely solid once again. 

_'Well,'_ Claude thought to himself, staring at the spot where the tiny person had vanished _'when the book said 'little servants', I honestly didn't expect it to be so literal.'_

Once again, his mind began to fill up with questions. Just how much of the tale of the 'Goddess's Little Servants' was true? How much of his own father's story was true? Where had the person taken that food? Surely they couldn't eat it all, the sack was almost as big as they were. Were there more little people hiding somewhere? How many? How did they live without anyone seeing them? Had people seen them but decided to ignore it due to what the legends said? Did they have communities? A society? Could they speak the same language as the people of Fodlan? Could they speak at all?

There was no way he'd be able to get to sleep with all those questions running through his head. Which meant there was only one thing to do. 

Claude got up from his position, his stiff muscles protesting after being in one place for so long. He stretched them out, then he hopped up and sat on the counter top. With his back to the wall, his head was about the same height as the shelf, perfect for a face to face conversation. 

He didn't have to wait nearly as long this time. With his head next to the wall, and his hearing strained, he was able to hear the little person's approach sooner than he had before. The little scratching sounds could easily be mistaken for mice, and he wondered if that's more troublesome or fortunate for the little servant. Having an easily explainable alternative to the sounds of your own movement would help with keeping people from suspecting the truth, but people also didn't want rodents around their home if they could help it. Now he was wondering how this little person dealt with traps and cats.

He regained his focus when he heard the stone scraping, and the bit of brick started sliding back. He was closer now, so he could see a lot more details as the person stepped out. From the look of it, it was a tiny woman, one with long dark hair and pale skin. She wore dark clothes that fit close to her body; which was exactly what he would expect someone to wear when sneaking around. It sort of reminded him of the outfits he'd seen that knight Shamir wear when she was leaving on a solo mission.

As expected the woman had the cloth folded up in her hands. Even folded smaller, it looked like a bolt of fabric in her arms rather than a dish towel. She knelt to set it on the shelf, and Claude couldn't help himself. 

“Come here often?” He asked casually. 

He'd made an effort to be quiet as he said it, but you wouldn't have guessed based on how the woman reacted. She immediately jumped up and faced him, dropping the cloth and yanking something from her side in one fluid motion. She dropped into a familiar stance, and that's when he realized what she was now holing. He almost laughed in disbelief. It was a sword, one perfectly sized for her. If he wasn't mistaken, it was a rapier, or something in a very similar style. The clothes were impressive enough, how did she get her hands on something like that?

“Hey, easy now, I don't bite. I promise.” Claude said, giving her a charming smile. She stared at him, blank faced and stiff. 

“You aren't supposed to be here.” She finally said, her voice coming out a bit deeper than he had expected. Well, that answered a few of his questions right there.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. But here I am, and here you are. If people 'aren't supposed to be here' then what are you up to? Or is it just me that's out of place?”

She stayed still and didn't reply. He thought he might have seen her frown slightly, but it was hard to tell with such small features in the dark. The only part of her face that he could clearly see were her eyes, since they caught the stray rays of moonlight.

“What's up? Mouse got your tongue? Or maybe a cricket?” he asked, smirking now. 

Still nothing. Maybe a change in tactics would help. He allowed his smile to shift into something a bit more self deprecating. 

“Sorry about this, it was kinda rude of me to just show up, huh? Especially since I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Claude von Reigan.” He nodded at her, and she shifted back a step at the movement. “May I have your name, my lady?”

Her eyes scanned him up and down, and her sword arm lowered slightly. “I shouldn't talk to you. Are you going to try anything if I leave?”

“I'm not going to try grabbing you, if that's what you mean.” He'd be lying if he said a part of him didn't want to. Watching her was almost like watching a doll come to life. He'd seen inventors show off small automatons back home, but none of them had ever moved in such a life like manner. But with the way she reacted to his nod he was pretty sure that trying anything more would only make her retreat, or slash at him with that sword. He didn't want either of those things to happen. He needed his fingers; it would be hard to draw his bow without them. “Look, I get it. You guys aren't supposed to be seen or really talk to people right? It sorta breaks the mysticism of the whole 'Goddess's Little Servants' story. So now that someone has seen you, you have to figure out what, if anything, you're going to do.” He winked at her. “Well, you don't have to worry about it. I'm excellent at keeping secrets, especially with the right motivation.”

“Motivation?” she asked cautiously.

“Well, I'm a curious soul by nature. So I can't really come across something like this and then just stop thinking about it, and if I'm so preoccupied thinking about you and your story then my classwork will suffer. So I was hoping you'd help me out by agreeing to come talk to me sometime. You agree to that, and I'll gladly keep this encounter to myself.”

She stared at him, clearly deliberating on his suggestion. “You just want to talk?”

“Yep.”

“...I can agree to that.” She said, finally coming out of her battle ready stance. “You are a noble, correct? That means your room would be on the second floor of the dormitories.”

This time, it was Claude's turn to be put off balance. “Wait, are you suggesting we meet up in my room? You can get all the way up there?” 

“I can.”

“Um, how?”

“I have excellent stamina.”

Not quite the answer he was looking for, but he could address that later. “I see. Well, that would work better than meeting down here so late. At least it would for me, but I figured you'd want to take it easy and just come here like you usually do.”

“I'm not always the one who comes to do this task, and this place is too public for long conversation. I've already stayed too long as it is.”

 _'So there are others besides her.'_ Claude filed that tidbit away. “Well, when can I expect to see you then?”

“The evening after next, if you are available.”

Oh he would make himself available. “Definitely. I look forward to it.” He gave her his best smile, and she merely nodded in acceptance. He told her which room was his, and she nodded again.

“I will be there. Thank you for your discretion.”

“Of course, my lady.” He nodded at her again, in semblance of a bow, and she didn't move back this time.

“Byleth.”

“Hm?”

“You asked for my name. It is Byleth Eisner.”

He grinned, the expression feeling much more natural now. “Nice to meet you Byleth.”

“Likewise, Claude. I will see you later.” With that, Byleth turned and walked back into the wall. A moment later the brick slid back into place, and all was still.

The grin lingered on Claude's face as he watched her disappear. 

“See you later, By.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> This series is being inspired by a couple things. The story of AceTrainerHope called "The Rabbit and the Hawk" first got me into the idea of mixing FE3H with the borrowers, and I got some additional ideas from this tumblr post: https://smolgloves.tumblr.com/post/187271051912/three-houses-gt-scenarios
> 
> Just to let everyone know, I'm not sure when the next installment will be out. I've got a couple more all planned out, but some heavy stuff happened recently and I'm not sure yet how much it's going to affect the amount of time and energy I have available to me. But I'll do my best, both for you and because I am excited about this series.


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